Martin Payne (character)
Encyclopedia
Martin Payne is a fictional character
portrayed by Martin Lawrence
on the Fox
sitcom Martin
. He is loosely based on Lawrence himself.
with his two best friends Tommy Strawn (Thomas Mikal Ford
) and Cole Brown (Carl Anthony Payne II
). He was raised by his mother Edna "Mama" Payne. His father is mentioned once in the pilot episode, "Beauty and the Beast." During his high school years, Martin had a rivalry with the popular guy, Ricky "Pretty Ricky" Fontaine (portrayed by Miguel A. Nunez Jr.
).
Martin's nicer side comes out whenever a friend is in need. For instance, when he and Tommy got into a feud and Tommy gets in a car wreck a little while later, Martin and the rest of the gang rush to Tommy's aid.
On holiday-themed episodes, Martin may be irritable or mean at first but in the end, he does what's right. When his friends needed him to be Santa Claus
at a youth center, Martin disagreed at first, but in order to give the children a nice Christmas
, he came to the center and told Christmas fables to the kids, even though they were mostly farce
.
The person who Martin is kindest to the most is Gina. He holds bitter rivalry with Gina's best friend Pamela "Pam" James (Tichina Arnold
).
with his own show on WZUP, a fictional radio station. Martin's topics were always interesting but insulting. Martin always spoke the truth on his show. Most of the topics he talked about included relationships and celebrity guests, and sometimes he talked about his relationship with Gina. Periodically, his topics insulted his friends, and he unintentionally exposed their personal business. For instance, Martin accidentally revealed Pam's secret to getting promotions at work.
Martin's boss was an eccentric, tacky-dressing man named Stan Winters (Garrett Morris
). Stan was truly a good person, but his wacky personality sometimes got on Martin's nerves. On Martin's radio show, he had a good fan reception and had many celebrity guests on his show (such as Richard Pryor
and Keith Washington
).
Martin's co-worker Shawn (Jon Gries
) was the station's engineer. Even though Shawn was a little dimwitted and weird, he always offered Martin good advice. At the end of Season 2, in Shawn's final episode, when WZUP was rebranded as a country station under new management and Martin lost his job, Shawn basically told Martin to follow his dreams and to never give up. Despite advice from Shawn and everyone else around him, Martin grew very depressed and ran away from his everyday life and was missing for a long period of time.
titled Word on the Street.
' s new host and producer. Over time, his show became a huge hit. Martin's show was similar to his radio show. Some of his guests included The Notorious B.I.G.
and Charles Barkley
. His new boss was Ms. Rodriguez, a kind-hearted woman who always agreed with his ideas, and his co-worker Berniece always gave him a hard time. In the series finale, Word on the Street got picked up by a major TV station in Los Angeles
and became a nationwide talk show. He and Gina were forced to move, and say goodbye to their friends.
Martin and Gina's relationship had its ups and downs. They almost broke up in Season 1 in the three-part episode "Break Up," but in the end, they got back together. After a while, Gina was ready to settle down, but Martin kept refusing to marry her. But after advice from everyone around him, Martin realized that he had to do the right thing by Gina, and proposed to her in the park with Brian McKnight
singing to her; she accepted. They finally married at the end of Season 3.
During the fourth season, Martin and Gina adjusted to their lives as a married couple. In the middle of Season 5, Gina was written out of the series when Tisha Campbell and Martin Lawrence began feuding. Campbell's absence from the show was explained by Gina being away in Los Angeles working; she and Martin would speak to each other over the phone. However, Gina did return for the series finale.
In the Season 3 episode "Best and Bester," it is revealed that Tommy stole Martin's girlfriend in kindergarten
, and that Cole had accidentally killed Martin's beloved pet turtle
Scrappy. In Season 4, Martin and Tommy got into an argument, but when Tommy was injured in a car wreck, Martin felt guilty and frantically searched a hospital to make amends with him; they became friends again and squashed the disagreement.
Sometimes when Cole makes stupid comments, Martin gets frustrated and tries to attack Cole. In the series finale, Tommy and Cole throw Martin a going-away party at Nipsey's.
-Hound" and much more.
However, when Pam is in need of help, Martin will come to her aid. Deep down, Martin doesn't really hate Pam. In the finale, when Martin is moving away, Pam admits that Martin is a real friend to her, and she kisses him on the cheek goodbye. Martin remarks to Tommy and Cole that if she gives him a kiss goodbye, it must really mean goodbye. His insults are usually about her looks, hair and body odor.
on the series is the fact that Martin is a spoiled mama's boy. Edna "Mama" Payne (also portrayed by Lawrence) spoils Martin and caters to him. She still sees him as her baby. Mama hates Gina because she thinks she is trying to take Martin from her.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
portrayed by Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence
Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence is an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stand up comedian. He came to fame during the 1990s, establishing a Hollywood career as a leading actor, most notably the films Bad Boys, Blue Streak, and Big Momma's House...
on the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
sitcom Martin
Martin (TV series)
Martin is an American sitcom produced by HBO Independent Productions that aired for five seasons, from August 27, 1992 to May 1, 1997 on Fox...
. He is loosely based on Lawrence himself.
Biography
Martin was born and raised in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
with his two best friends Tommy Strawn (Thomas Mikal Ford
Thomas Mikal Ford
Thomas Mikal Ford , known and credited also as Tommy Ford, is an American actor who is best known for his character Tommy Strawn in the sitcom Martin...
) and Cole Brown (Carl Anthony Payne II
Carl Anthony Payne II
Carl Anthony Payne II is an American actor. He studied at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, New York and Howard University, Washington DC...
). He was raised by his mother Edna "Mama" Payne. His father is mentioned once in the pilot episode, "Beauty and the Beast." During his high school years, Martin had a rivalry with the popular guy, Ricky "Pretty Ricky" Fontaine (portrayed by Miguel A. Nunez Jr.
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.
Miguel A. Núñez, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in The Return of the Living Dead and Life and a leading role in Juwanna Mann....
).
Personality
Martin is a sweetheart deep down, but on the outside, he acts like an egotistical, selfish jerk. Sometimes his girlfriend (later wife) Gina Waters (Tisha Campbell) tries to straighten him out, but it may not last very long. In earlier episodes, on his radio show, Martin would discuss topics that would offend Gina or his friends, and cause a ruckus among the group. When he realizes he is wrong, he will do the right thing and apologize to the people he offended (usually Gina).Martin's nicer side comes out whenever a friend is in need. For instance, when he and Tommy got into a feud and Tommy gets in a car wreck a little while later, Martin and the rest of the gang rush to Tommy's aid.
On holiday-themed episodes, Martin may be irritable or mean at first but in the end, he does what's right. When his friends needed him to be Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
at a youth center, Martin disagreed at first, but in order to give the children a nice Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, he came to the center and told Christmas fables to the kids, even though they were mostly farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
.
The person who Martin is kindest to the most is Gina. He holds bitter rivalry with Gina's best friend Pamela "Pam" James (Tichina Arnold
Tichina Arnold
Tichina Rolanda Arnold is an American actress and singer. She is best known for having portrayed the roles of Pamela James on the FOX sitcom Martin and the family matriarch Rochelle on the UPN/CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris....
).
Radio
In Seasons 1-2, Martin worked as a radio DJDisc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
with his own show on WZUP, a fictional radio station. Martin's topics were always interesting but insulting. Martin always spoke the truth on his show. Most of the topics he talked about included relationships and celebrity guests, and sometimes he talked about his relationship with Gina. Periodically, his topics insulted his friends, and he unintentionally exposed their personal business. For instance, Martin accidentally revealed Pam's secret to getting promotions at work.
Martin's boss was an eccentric, tacky-dressing man named Stan Winters (Garrett Morris
Garrett Morris
Garrett Gonzalez Morris is an American comedian and actor from New Orleans. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, appearing from 1975 to 1980.-Early life and career:...
). Stan was truly a good person, but his wacky personality sometimes got on Martin's nerves. On Martin's radio show, he had a good fan reception and had many celebrity guests on his show (such as Richard Pryor
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer and MC. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities, and profanity, as well as racial epithets...
and Keith Washington
Keith Washington
Keith Washington is an American R&B vocalist from Detroit, Michigan who scored a hit single in the United States in 1991 with "Kissing You," which was also used as background music for a General Hospital on ABC...
).
Martin's co-worker Shawn (Jon Gries
Jon Gries
Jonathan Francis "Jon" Gries is an American actor, writer and director. He is also credited under the names Jon Francis and Jonathan Gries. He is known for his role in Napoleon Dynamite as Uncle Rico, and more recently as recurring character Roger Linus on Lost...
) was the station's engineer. Even though Shawn was a little dimwitted and weird, he always offered Martin good advice. At the end of Season 2, in Shawn's final episode, when WZUP was rebranded as a country station under new management and Martin lost his job, Shawn basically told Martin to follow his dreams and to never give up. Despite advice from Shawn and everyone else around him, Martin grew very depressed and ran away from his everyday life and was missing for a long period of time.
Comeback
After a long search, Gina, Tommy, Cole and Pam finally found Martin at the beginning of Season 3. He was hiding out at a mysterious temple under the name "Shaquille Sunflower," and grew a bushy afro with one braid on it. When the gang broke in and confronted Martin/"Sunflower," Gina told him that she would wait for him but not forever. After Gina and the others left, Martin/"Sunflower" broke out of the temple and returned home. For a while, it was hard for him to find a job, and when he auditioned for his own talk show at the Channel 51 TV station, he didn't get a show but he managed to get a job as associate producer on a local talk showTalk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
titled Word on the Street.
Television
When his show's host got arrested, Martin became both Word on the StreetThe Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...
and Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley
Charles Wade Barkley is a former American professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Sir Charles" and "The Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's most dominating power forwards...
. His new boss was Ms. Rodriguez, a kind-hearted woman who always agreed with his ideas, and his co-worker Berniece always gave him a hard time. In the series finale, Word on the Street got picked up by a major TV station in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and became a nationwide talk show. He and Gina were forced to move, and say goodbye to their friends.
Relationship with Gina
Gina is Martin's soul mate. It is revealed in the Season 2 episode "Do You Remember the Time?" that they met a party; Martin lied and said he was Gina's date when Pam was going to have security put him out. That was the night they fell in love and became a couple.Martin and Gina's relationship had its ups and downs. They almost broke up in Season 1 in the three-part episode "Break Up," but in the end, they got back together. After a while, Gina was ready to settle down, but Martin kept refusing to marry her. But after advice from everyone around him, Martin realized that he had to do the right thing by Gina, and proposed to her in the park with Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, and R&B/Pop musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays nine instruments: piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussions, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn and trumpet....
singing to her; she accepted. They finally married at the end of Season 3.
During the fourth season, Martin and Gina adjusted to their lives as a married couple. In the middle of Season 5, Gina was written out of the series when Tisha Campbell and Martin Lawrence began feuding. Campbell's absence from the show was explained by Gina being away in Los Angeles working; she and Martin would speak to each other over the phone. However, Gina did return for the series finale.
Relationship with Tommy and Cole
Tommy and Cole have been Martin's best friends since childhood. Tommy is the brains of the group, having the most common sense and best attitude; Cole, in contrast, is a nice guy but very dimwitted, much to Martin's irritation.In the Season 3 episode "Best and Bester," it is revealed that Tommy stole Martin's girlfriend in kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
, and that Cole had accidentally killed Martin's beloved pet turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
Scrappy. In Season 4, Martin and Tommy got into an argument, but when Tommy was injured in a car wreck, Martin felt guilty and frantically searched a hospital to make amends with him; they became friends again and squashed the disagreement.
Sometimes when Cole makes stupid comments, Martin gets frustrated and tries to attack Cole. In the series finale, Tommy and Cole throw Martin a going-away party at Nipsey's.
Rivalry with Pam
Martin hates Gina's best friend/co-worker Pam. Every time Pam comes around, Martin always picks on her for no reason. Though she sometimes starts an argument with him then claims he started it when he retaliates, which everyone agrees with for some reason. He calls her cruel names such as "Scrappy Doo", "Angela BassettAngela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...
-Hound" and much more.
However, when Pam is in need of help, Martin will come to her aid. Deep down, Martin doesn't really hate Pam. In the finale, when Martin is moving away, Pam admits that Martin is a real friend to her, and she kisses him on the cheek goodbye. Martin remarks to Tommy and Cole that if she gives him a kiss goodbye, it must really mean goodbye. His insults are usually about her looks, hair and body odor.
Relationship with Mama
A running gagRunning gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
on the series is the fact that Martin is a spoiled mama's boy. Edna "Mama" Payne (also portrayed by Lawrence) spoils Martin and caters to him. She still sees him as her baby. Mama hates Gina because she thinks she is trying to take Martin from her.